This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
With the development of computer networks and communications technologies, the Internet provides, by means of a microblog, a network user with an information sharing, propagation, and acquisition platform that is based on a user relationship. The network user may log in to the microblog by means of a webpage, post personal information in the microblog, and share the posted information with microblog users who follow the network user. Therefore, with the microblog, users can share information with each other anytime and anywhere by means of networks and information transfer in this manner has a high efficiency and is widely applied.
In the existing technology, a microblog user maintains and manages a following list. All users in the following list have signed up for the microblog and all users followed by the microblog user are stored in the following list. The microblog user may follow, according to personal requirements, information shared by the microblog users in the following list. That is, the microblog user on the network may receive, in real time by using various microblog clients, microblog information posted or reposted by other microblog users in the following list.
While using a microblog, a microblog user usually wants to follow, according to requirements, people with social influence such as politicians, writers, famous singers, or movie stars, and wants to follow relevant information pertaining to these people. However, these people that have attracted considerable attention have not joined the microblog for a variety of reasons, and therefore, some approaches are required to invite these celebrities to join the microblog. Currently, these celebrities are usually invited to sign up for the microblog using an offline approach. For example, in a form such as offline promotion or through business cooperation. These types of invitation approaches have a high cost and a low success rate.